Does the Adobe PDF printer run on a Windows 11 virtual machine running on an M3 Mac on Parallels 19?

[Geoffrey33222924kp0w]

I installed Acrobat DC Pro on a Windows 11 virtual machine, running on Parallels 19 on an M3 Macbook Pro. Acrobat Pro did install and runs; however, the Adobe PDF printer did not install. I subsequently tried to install the Adobe PDF printer manually using methods outlined in articles posted here, but this was not successful.  Does anyone know if the Adobe PDF printer is compatible with Windows 11 running as a virtual machine on Parallels 19 on an ARM (M3) Mac? I need the Adobe PDF printer to create pdf bookmarks when creating a pdf version of a Framemaker book (I'm using Framemaker 9, which runs fine in this environment).

[ls_rbls]

I am not a macOS user , but did you tried installing it through the Apple's Bonjour Printer wizard?

Also, when you try Save As PDF in the absence of the Adobe PDF Converter, do you get any errors?

See if any of the Knowledge Base topics below are helpful:

• https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/adobe-pdf-printer-does-not-install.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/convert-to-pdf-failed-macos-mojave-10-14.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/print-to-pdf.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/error-save-as-adobe-pdf-macos-mojave-10-14.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/add-pdf-printer-manually.html

[Geoffrey33222924kp0w]

I did not install the adobe PDF printer using the Bonjour wizard, as that wizard is part of Mac OS-X, while the Adobe PDF printer driver is under Windows. I did try installing the Acrobat 64-bit patch in the first link, but it did not work; after installing the patch and rebooting, the Adobe PDF printer was still not present. I'll note that when I ran the patch, a window opened saying th at the file AdobePDF.dll is needed, and asking that the path where the file is located be typed.

However, the field was pre-populated with 

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Xtras\AdobePDF\Arm64Vista

But, in the AdobePDF folder there is no Arm64Vista folder. Is it possible that this is the problem, i.e., that this dll file is needed?  If so, do you know where I could get it?

Thanks.

[ls_rbls]

There are ways of re-registering the modules and .dll files manually.

In the past, I've seen similar issues when trying to virtualize a Microsoft Windows Desktop on a Linux computer using Virtual Box, Wine or PlayOnLinux to test with older unsupported versions of Adobe Reader.

In Wine for Linux, for example, they refer to such virtual device drivers folders as the "bottles" (If I am not mistaken).

And it is extremely tedious trying to figure out how many DLLs and dependencies you may need  on which folders just to make one missing piece of the software that you are trying to virtualize to work properly.

The main advantage on a Linux box is that I can dedicate a full active partition on my hard drive to install a full Windows Desktop version on it, making all the DLLs and dependency modules available for me to copy what I need from actual Windows directories and manually add the needed files on my Wine or PlayOnLinux bottles.

Without the ability to do the same on a macOS environment, you will always end up missing important files because the installation of the Windows OS is purely virtual (more like a generic version).

In any case, I am not familiarized at all with Parallels, but from looking at the folder path " Arm64Vista " it seems like it is a virtual folder created by Parallels, not by the ARM (Adobe Refresh Manager) Windows Installer Package.

Because that folder is named Arm64Vista and not AMD64Vista, I will assume that this is the folder where all 32-bit modules (DLL's) should be registered into in order to for it to be able to interact with both of your desktop hardware and the virtual machine.l (keeping in mind that macOS is all 64-bit).

64-bit modules (mostly for Adobe Creative Cloud services), are on:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe

If it is asking you to type in the file path for that file, on Microsoft Windows that file is spelled as  ADOBEPDF.DLL (all in uppercase letters) and it is found at the following locations:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Xtras\AdobePDF\AMD64Vista

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Xtras\AdobePDF\I386Vista

And the actual printer driver setup information (.inf ) file is found on:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\Acrobat\Xtras\AdobePDF\AdobePDF.inf

Note:

There is also a AdobePDF.CAT (catalogue file) there too.

Do you have any of these folders and files?

One thing that I've noticed is that Parallel 19 latest update was launched on December 2023. Have you applied that update?

Also, are you using Rosetta2 on that M3 chip computer? (just curious if this will make any difference).

I would say, contact support for Parallel to see if they are tracking any particular troubleshooting guidance with their software that we may be missing at this time.

[ls_rbls]

I forgot to ask, which version of Windows are you working with?

The information that I posted earlier is based off of a Windows 11 desktop.

[ls_rbls]

Unless you've only have Adobe Acrobat Pro DC for windows, If you are able to install Acrobat for macOS, I think it may provide the necessary virtual device driver modules to Parallels (which if I am not wrong, Parallels will be the emulating layer).

Like I said, I am not a macOS use but I've tried many things on different Linux distros that are possible.

MacOS being so restricted, it might make my suggestions sound shallow, nevertheless, if it was up to me, that is something I would be looking into and worth giving a shot.

[Geoffrey33222924kp0w]

I tried to install Adobe Acrobat Pro DC for Mac. However, I still have Acrobat Pro 2017 for Mac installed, and it appears that in order to install Acrobat Pro DC for Mac I must uninstall Acrobat Pro 2017 for Mac. The installation of Acrobat Pro 2017 for Mac on the Macbook Pro with Apple (ARM) hardware was a bit tricky; the version on my DVD did not install but I was able to find a version online that did install.  I prefer not to uninstall it because I will likely need it if I cannot get the AdobePDF printer to work on the Windows 11 VM (my main reason for wanting Acrobat DC for Windows was to get the AdobePDF printer to work).  I'll also note that I tried asking about this on the Parallels help site, but so far there has been no response.  Also, before I asked for help from the Adobe Community I had a chat session with Adobe technical support, but the person I chatted with eventually did not know whether the Adobe PDF printer driver is supported on a Windows 11 VM running on an ARM Macbook via Parallels. The person did confirm that the Adobe PDF printer driver is not available on Mac versions of Acrobat.

Since my trial subscription ends tomorrow, I think that in view of all this I will cancel the subscription and not pursue this further.  I'll note that the AdobePDF printer driver did install with no problem (and worked) under Acrobat XI for Windows running on a Windows 10 virtual machine under both VMware Fusion and under Parallels.  Also, Acrobat XI installs and runs fine on the current Windows 11 VM under Parallels; it is only the AdobePDF printer that does not install. 

[ls_rbls]

Interestimg !

And what a bummer. Thank you for taking the time to update the thread.

I definitelyll learned something new today.